We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
|
Samizdata quote of the day – an Epoch Defining Event The only way that the proponents of the ‘liberal’ international order are able to process such criticism is to cast it as an expression of manifestly unreasonable character flaws. Ironically, then, angry Eurocrat Guy Verhofstadt took to X to proclaim that “America, as a liberal empire, is no more”, and that the “new era of US governance” is an “oligarchy”, “where billionaire members of Mar-a-Lago decide US policy”. But talk is cheap. Trump is obnoxious to the “liberal” order imagined by Verhofstadt, not because his administration is an “oligarchy”, but because it is a democratic departure from the green oligarchies that dominate in Europe and were installed without due process under the largesse of Green Blob billionaires.
– Ben Pile
|
Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
|
Penetrating insights are to be expected from Ben Pile, a hero, imho, of those of us who are appalled at the lunacy, and impact, of the CO2 alarmists. He is a lucid analyst of political movements.
Verhofstadts’ statements are a classic case of projection as you are likely to find and can be used as a dictionary definition of the concept.
All governments are oligarchies — even “anarcho-capitalist” non-governments such as Viking Iceland.
Some of the differences between oligarchies are:
* the relative power of the oligarchs;
* the selfishness (or sense of duty) of the oligarchs;
* the conceit (or humbleness) of the oligarchs;
* the level of insanity of the oligarchs.
It should be obvious what is best for us, the people, in each of these spectra.
Phil B is correct – Guy Verhofstadt represents an Oligarchy, indeed the rules of the European Union are designed to PREVENT the people having control. And the international establishment is intended to work the same way – lots of talk of democracy whilst, in reality, utterly crushing democracy.
President Trump won both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote (the Dems did their normal thing of producing lots of fake votes in the big cities – but were just overwhelmed by the Republican Elephant, or tidal wave, of votes from outside these cities, there is even a 19th century cartoon of this – the conflict with corrupt Democrat Big City bosses, and their fake votes, goes back a long way – in Local Government the term “Curley Effect” is actually named after the early 1900s Democrat Mayor of Boston, Mayor Curley).
President Trump is trying to do the things he promised the American people he would do – the policies they voted for, for example securing the border, and ending DEI.
This is called Democracy not Oligarchy.
As for “liberal” – Guy Verhofstadt does not define what he means by “liberal”.
He appears to mean censorship (the crushing of Freedom of Speech by “Hate Speech” laws), “Gun Control£”, international (world) “governance” by unelected officials and Partner Corporations. With ordinary people basically the serfs of this international Oligarchy.
This definition of “liberal” would have utterly astonished real liberals such as John Bright and Gladstone (as it is, basically, the opposite of what they believed in), indeed even socialists such as George Orwell (Eric Blair) would be astonished by this definition of the word “liberal” – as, to Orwell, the sign of liberty was “the rifle on the wall of the cottage of the ordinary working man” – something that almost all British people would have agreed with when George Orwell was growing up.
Guy Verhofstadt is engaging in fairly high-voltage levels of projection. It’s not as if the European Union is known for its sensitivities around due process, democratic accountability, fondness for free speech, and all the rest of it. What he dislikes in this case is Trump’s blunt rejection of a number of pieces of New Clerisy wisdom on DEI, global warming alarmism, unfettered migration, victim-blaming mindsets when it comes to foreign affairs, etc etc. That does not mean that there aren’t legitimate criticisms of Trump, such as his foolish embrace of tariffs, but by and large, the European political establishment is, I suspect, almost envious of Mr Trump’s powers.
It may well be that Mr Trump will overreach, and some of his measures could backfire, with tariffs being a notable example. Then again, the EU has hardly been a beacon of open markets and Cobdenite free trade in recent decades.
Yes Johnathan Pearce – Guy Verhofstadt is engaged in “Projection” it is he, Mr Verhofstadt, who pushes Oligarchy – and it is President Trump who is supporting Democracy.
In a Direct Democracy, such as Appenzell Innerrhoden, (a Direct Democracy for many hundreds of years) the people assembly and vote for the policies they want. In a Representative Democracy the people get to vote for representatives whose policies the people approve of.
That is what President Trump is trying to do – he won the election (both the Electoral Vote and the Popular Vote) and he is trying to make the changes, such as an end to high “Green” energy prices, an end to “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” policies, and an end to mass illegal immigration, that the people voted for – the people voted for Donald J. Trump to make these changes and that is what he is trying to do.
It does not work that way in the European Union – and, tragically, it does not work that way in the United Kingdom either – where, for example, the people keep demanding an end to mass immigration, yet they get more and more mass immigration – deliberately encouraged by the permanent government.
In news from Germany: Adolf Hitler, responding to Churchill’s take over of the British Government, lamented: “The Englanders will regret giving unfettered power to this aristocratic tyrant”.
Marco Rubio does a great job summing up the damage done by the fantasists like Verhofstadt who promoted The End of History and one-world post-nationalism:
https://x.com/njhochman/status/1879589657597411418
Why is it only ever an oligarchy when we win?
Fraser Orr – well Mr Hitler was a bit odd.
Ben David – yes indeed.
bobby b – exactly.